Full Ride vs. Ivy League

Hello so I just received a full ride to University of Pittsburgh, with room, board, and stipend, and I already submitted by ED to Penn where my EFC is around 25k, which I would have to take out loans for. I plan on going to medical school so my question is, should I withdraw ED from Penn?, will it make difference if I go to Pitt or Penn when I am applying for med school? Thanks!

First, a huge congratulations on a full ride to U of Pitt! Especially since you’re planning on going to medical school, I wouldn’t go into any debt while an undergrad. This is no brainer.

I’d change the Penn app to RD. Just contact admissions, they will do it for you. Put in applications EA or RD anyplace else on your list that might be comparable to the Pitt cost.

Are you saying that your family would expect you to borrow $100k+ for UPenn? That’s crazy, particularly for a premed.

Do your parents know that they’d have to qualify and cosign all that debt?

Either way, bad idea.


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will it make difference if I go to Pitt or Penn when I am applying for med school? Thanks!

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Absolutely not. Med schools will not discount your Pitt education at all. Med schools really don’t care about a schools name. That said, UPitt is an excellent school.

Congratulations on your wonderful acceptance to Pitt…and the terrific full ride.

My opinion…Save your money for medical school. There is precious little fre money for that!!

Pitt is a fabulous school.

Pitt is a no-brainer. Top 15 med school practically next door. Top neuro program (CNUP). Research opportunities galore. As a full-rider, you’ll likely get first dibs on everything offered. "Grats.

Change your Penn app to RD, so you can compare financial aid if accepted.

Pitt is an excellent school and their med school is also great. I would take a full ride at UPitt over any Ivy in a heart beat!

I agree with the first 6 replies. A full ride to a very good school such as Pitt is exactly what you want for premed. Cancel your ED to Penn ASAP. 100k in loans for undergrad is crazy, and even worse if you are premed.

Do you mean you’d take the 5.5k federal loans or that your parents intended on borrowing 25k/year for you? (You, yourself, cannot borrow 25k).
Change your application to Penn to RD if you want time to decide between both.
Apply EA elsewhere that’s affordable (even if not necessarily free).
Pay your housing deposit on a nice dorm at Pitt - congratulations on the full ride! Assuming honors and perks, too. Go on the special visit for people with your scholarship, do an overnight.

@MYOS1634 I would take out the 5.5k per year and my parents would pay the rest but they expressed that that would cause a burden on them, thanks for the advice everyone!

In that case, you should wait till you get your financial aid package from Penn: if it’s affordable to your parents, you can go, and if it’s not, you tell Penn it’s not affordable and must turn down their offer. Right now, it sounds like paying for Penn would be difficult, so depending on how exact the NPC was, it could be a bit cheaper than you thought and be affordable, or be more and then be totally off limits.
Ask your parents what would be affordable (if that offer from Pitt wasn’t on the table): 19.5K would be hard, but what about 18K?16K? 15K?

Even assuming your parents could afford Penn, I think it would make more sense to save that money (assuming they would give it to you) for med school. Med school is very expensive. Avoiding debt (undergrad or grad) is a huge plus.

Ok…I’m confused.

Your parents allowed you to apply to U Penn knowing that the net price calculator showed a net cost too high for them to pay?

Why did they do that?

UPenn meets full need for all. Change your application to regular decision. Then you can compare offers amongst all your acceptances.

@thumper1 my parents really loved Penn and adopted the mentality “get accepted first, worry about paying later”, but now I have a full scholarship, they are set on Pitt

Then just change the Penn application to regular decision.

But really…you should be thrilled with that full ride offer to Pitt!!

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now I have a full scholarship, they are set on Pitt


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The handwriting is on the wall. Your parents know that upenn would be a burden on them. I can almost assure you that if you went to penn, whenever money got tight for your parents (and it will0, they’d be blaming you for not going to Pitt. If you have any younger siblings, the pressure coul be even greater as the cost burden may affect them as well.

Go to Pitt. You will likely need some of your parents help in med school. Med school is crazy expensive and there are always some expenses that the med loans don’t cover. I am so glad that my son didn’t incur debt as an undergrad and took the big merit. Med school was expensive and we were able to happily help him because his undergrad cost us so little.

I.e. Penn is too expensive. Change your ED application to RD.

The full ride to Pitt is an absolute no-brainer. Good luck!

So, you’re asking, Is there a way I can convince my parents that they should spend $18-19,000 on Penn?

Can you have a discussion with them to see whether they’d be willing to pay something for Penn and if so, how much? Does Penn offer something Pitt doesn’t? Did you apply to VIPER or another dual degree program?
(Considering how good in most medically-related fields Pitt is and how flexible Honors at Pitt is, it’s really difficult to argue for Penn.)

If you attend Pitt, will your parents put the difference in an educational fund to be used toward med school applications and med school fees?

If med school is your real goal (you’ve volunteered and shadowed, you’ve talked with doctors) and not something you’re thinking of because you are good at science and want to help people, then keep in mind attending Pitt, where you’ll be competing with others on favorable terrain and where you’ll get all kinds of perks and advantages, will actually make med school more likely than if you attend Penn.

Some caveats:
Attending Penn may help you IF you don’t make it to med school AND if you are lower income, first gen, or URM.
However attending Penn makes your attending med school less likely than if you attend Pitt.

That’s a no-brainer for us. Take the full ride, and take advantage of all opportunities available to you at Pitt.